Bombshell new report reveals who made fatal mistake that caused Black Hawk to collide with jet and kill 67
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The pilot of the Black Hawk helicopter that collided with the American Airlines passenger airplane did not comply with directions to change course seconds before the fatal incident, a bombshell new report has revealed.
On the night of January 29, Army Black Hawk pilot Capt. Rebecca Lobach was conducting an annual flight evaluation with her co-pilot Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, who was serving as her flight instructor.
Three months on, new details published by The New York Times revealed that the pilot made more than one mistake leading to one of the worst catastrophes in aviation history.
Not only was Lobach flying her Black Hawk too high, but in the final moments before the impact, she failed to take advice and instruction from her co-pilot to switch course.
Lobach's piloting skills were being tested during the evaluation on the fateful night, before the crew were informed that an aircraft was nearby, according to the report.
Just 15 seconds before colliding with the commercial airplane, air traffic control told Lobach and Eaves to turn left, but she did not do so.
Seconds before impact, co-pilot Eaves then turned to Lobach in the cockpit and told her that air traffic control wanted her to turn left. She still did not do so.
Investigators may never know why Lobach did not change course that day.
Both Lobach and Eaves had first acknowledged the message that an aircraft was nearby, and spotted the plane themselves before requesting to fly by 'visual separation.'
This is a practice that allows aircraft to avoid collisions based on their own observations instead of following the air traffic controller's instructions.
'The request to fly under those rules is granted routinely in airspace overseen by controllers. Most of the time, visual separation is executed without note.
'But when mishandled, it can also create a deadly risk — one that aviation experts have warned about for years,' aviation experts told the outlet.
The report stated: 'The Black Hawk was 15 seconds away from crossing paths with the jet. Warrant Officer Eaves then turned his attention to Captain Lobach. He told her he believed that air traffic control wanted them to turn left, toward the east river bank.'
If she had turned left, it 'would have opened up more space between the helicopter and Flight 5342,' it added.
Instead, 67 people - everyone aboard the plane and helicopter - perished.
Lobach, from Durham, North Carolina, was an aviation officer in the Army and had racked up around 500 hours of flying time. She also served as a White House military social aide during the Biden administration.
A critical rule in the industry is that if two aircraft are on a collision course pilots have to be advised if they are likely to merge, according to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations.
Experts found that did not happen that night and that 'immediate intervention was needed' to prevent the horrible tragedy that left 67 dead.
'Direct, immediate intervention was needed that night. Instead of seeing and avoiding Flight 5342, Captain Lobach continued flying straight at it,' the report read.
Though it remains unclear why Lobach defied orders, Aviation experts predict she may have been 'blindsided' that the American Airlines flight was 'circling' Runway 33 that night.
Investigators now believe the Black Hawk crew did not hear the word 'circling' because they might have been pressing the microphone key to talk at the same time the crucial term came through, according to the report.
'If the key is depressed, the pilot can speak but not hear incoming communications,' it detailed.
There is also no indication that Lobach suffered a medical emergency at the time of the crash, and didn't have pre existing health issues, her loved ones and people close to the investigation told the outlet.
In February it was revealed that the helicopter crew may have had inaccurate altitude readings in the moments before the crash, investigators said.
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said the recording from the Black Hawk suggested an incomplete radio transmission may have left them without understanding how it should shift position to avoid the aircraft.
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As many suspected, the crash was helicopter pilot's fault.
Most analysts were saying it right away.
Then came the coverup of who the pilot was.
50 hours flying time. I'm more interested in who ordered that helicopter to fly out there.
Some idiot on the Daily Mail comment section said this
If the preponderance of pilot error aircraft crashes were caused by women, maybe there would be a slight case that "DEI" was implicated. But that is not the case. In fact it is hard to think of another plane crash caused by a female pilot.
This is the person who flew the helicopter that Kobe Bryant and his daughter were riding in into a fog shrouded hillside killing everyone on board
When I do a google search for pilot error airplane or helicopter crashes I will learn that almost without exception the pilots were males, usually white males.
In fact it is hard to think of another plane crash caused by a female pilot.
who was flying the other plane to crash at the time, the one that landed upside down?
When I do a google search for pilot error airplane or helicopter crashes I will learn that almost without exception the pilots were males, usually white males
Now compare the percentage of flight hours logged by the white males you are so eager to blame with the total number of hours flown and total number of crashes to see if you have a point,
I'm not eager to blame anyone. The gender of pilots is immaterial. You just seeded an article implying that women should not be piloting aircraft. It is ridiculous.
look at the comment section of your seed
Bombshell new report reveals who made fatal mistake that caused Black Hawk to collide with jet and kill 67 | Daily Mail Online
Many of these comments are idiotic and obviously come from magas.
What language in the article do you believe implies that "women should not be piloting aircraft"
I'd like to point out 2 things about this article.
These 2 points do not address whether the actual article was truthful or not, but simply to apply a healthy amount of skepticism to it.
here you go. Granted the New York Times isn’t a bastion of honest reporting, but there are no sources that I’m aware of the contradict it,
Appreciate the effort, but I am not going to give NY Times any of my money to read their articles.
The left-leaning Mirror good enough for you?
Putting out a little hostility there?
Don't care if source is left leaning or right leaning, but do care about the quality of their work. Citing from a report without providing any information about that report is just bad reporting.
And again, your link makes conclusions based on a report while giving absolutely no information about said report.